FOTD -- November 30, 2003 (Rating 6) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: This morning, as I sit by my fractal computer with an image that is not quite as good as I had hoped, I find myself once again pondering the meaning of it all. And I cannot be satisfied by shuffling the questions aside as meaningless or impossible to answer. Even if things such as the reason for human existence and individual existence as well are ignored, there remain things that might never be understood, such as the nature of the quantum world and of fractals. What is an electron, or a photon? Why are fractals filled with so many spirals? Why is pi equal to 3.14...? Why does 1+1=2? Why must there be truths which can never be proved? And why do we worry ourselves with such things? Due to our human nature we shall never fully succeed in purging ourselves of unanswered questions, but for now let's simply try to enjoy the world the way it is. There are fractals enough for everyone, and today's is but a single example. Today's image is a scene on an arm of the star connected to the period-16 bud on the north shoreline of East Valley. It is basically a refinement of the type of image that appeared as yesterday's FOTD, and is probably of equal worth. But because of the repetition, I could rate it at only a 6. It is another blazingly fast image, which will render in 1/2 minute or less on all but the slowest machines (of which mine is one). I have entered the mathtolerance=/1 into the parameter file so that the image, which is of quite a high magnitude, does not flip the program into arbitrary precision mode. If this were to happen, our 30-second image would suddenly become a two- hour image. The finished GIF image is available on the internet at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> The Saturday weather remained mostly sunny but very cold and windy here at Fractal Central. The fractal cats remained indoors after testing the outside conditions for a few minutes. Howling winds and a temperature of 43F 6C are just not to their liking. They comforted themselves with left-over turkey. Today is starting with much less wind, but not as much sun. It remains to be seen how the dynamic duo will adjust. As for me, I have a bit of unavoidable seasonal shopping to do, but when that is finished, I'm going to take it as easy as possible. And I'll return to the forum in 24 hours with the first of the December images, an unusual one with a rating of 8, made with the MandelbrotMix4 formula and named "Seasonal Wreath". Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Mandelbrot-18 { ; time=0:00:41.25--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=mandel passes=1 mathtolerance=/1 center-mag=+0.28603880275110390/+0.011533269280361\ 50/7.916774e+012/1.000/17.5/0 params=0/0 float=y maxiter=3200 bailout=9 inside=0 logmap=-879 colors=000eBoeCneDmeEleFkeGjeHieIheJgeKfeMdeNceOae\ Q`eR`dSccTfbUibVlaWoaXr`Zu`ax_ez_hzZdzZ_wYWtYSqXQn\ XNkWLhWKeVIbVF`TDYTAVS7SS4PQ1MQ0JS3GS4DS6AT77TAATC\ FTDJVFOVGSVJVXL_XMcXOgXPj_Qp`QucSydSzYVxSYrL`lFcf7\ f`1iV0jQ0gS4dT9aVC_XGXYLT_PQ`SO`XLa`IcdFdgCfl9gp6i\ s4iu0fv0dx0ay0`y0_r0Yl3XfCV_JTTQSO_QGfPAoO4vM0zM4z\ I9zFDzAIz7Oz3Sz0Xz0`z0dz0iz0lz4ozArzIuzOyyVzxazvgz\ uozsuixdJzPIzSIzVIzYIy`GycGyfGxiGxlFxoFvrFvuFvvVil\ jXazJSvIQrGPmGPjFOfFOaDMYDMVCLQCLMAJIAJF9IA9I67G37\ G0Y70x00y00y00y00y01z06z09z0Cz0Fz0Iz0Mz0Pz0Sz0Vz0Y\ z0`z0Xx0Ts0Qo0Oj0Om0Oo1Or7OsCOvIOxOOzSOzYOzcOzguC4\ oI6jO7fT9a_AXcCSiDOoFJuGFyIJyLMyMQxPVxS_xVcvYgv`lv\ covdpzlpzspzypzzpzzrzzszzuzzvzzxzzyzzyzzzzzzzzzzzz\ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzxvzpszgoz`lzTgzMdzD`z6Yz0Vz0Tz0Tz1\ Tz6SzASzGSzLQzPQzTQzYQz_Qz_Pz`Pz`PzaPzaPzcPzcPzdPz\ dPzfPzfOzg0z9SzMQzOzzozzo periodicity=10 } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================